Former Arafat aide: Third Intifada on its way ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 30, 2009 - 12:00am Bassam Abu Sharif, a former senior advisor to late President Yasser Arafat, added his voice to a chorus of those raising the possibility of a third Intifada, or uprising against Israel. » Read more

Has Obama Dashed Arab Hopes? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Tariq Alhomayed - (Opinion) September 30, 2009 - 12:00am The question being asked today is; has Obama dashed the hopes of the Arabs regarding his seriousness towards seeking a solution to the Arab – Israeli conflict? The barometer [being used to answer this question] is the extent of the US President's ability to put a halt to the construction of Israeli settlements. » Read more

Two die in smuggling tunnels after airstrike ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 30, 2009 - 12:00am Two Palestinians died as a result of a gas leak inside a smuggling tunnel along Gaza’s border with Egypt in the city of Rafah, medics said on Wednesday. Medicals at Abu Yousef An-Najjar Hospital in Rafah said Muhammad Jalal Abu Sef, 45, and Riziq Al-Masri, 28, were dead when they arrived. Thirteen others were injured as a result of the gas leak, which occurred after Israeli warplanes bombed the tunnels. It was not immediately clear if the gas leak was a direct result of the airstrikes. » Read more

New negotiations will test Netanyahu’s commitment ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) September 30, 2009 - 12:00am Yasser Arafat was enticed to attend a meeting with Ehud Barak at Camp David during the summer of 2000 with the promise that he would not be blamed if it turned out to be a failure. It did, and he was. Last week the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, was invited to attend a meeting with the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York without any such promise. He was not blamed and the meeting was not a failure. » Read more

Israel, Hamas in mutual gestures on prisoners ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - September 30, 2009 - 12:00am Israel will free 20 Palestinian women from jail as early as Friday in exchange for a videotape from Hamas proving an Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip since 2006 is alive, officials on both sides said on Wednesday. Egyptian and German mediators are continuing to work on a final deal to swap the soldier, Gilad Shalit, for hundreds of Hamas prisoners. The negotiations are part of international efforts to ease Israel's blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. » Read more

A hostile takeover of Zionism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Globe and Mail by Patrick Martin - (Analysis) September 30, 2009 - 12:00am Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community has come a long way. No longer are they the inward-looking anti-Zionists who only cared that the government provide them with money for their separate schools, welfare and exemptions from military service. These days, many of the Haredim – the word means “those who tremble” in awe of God” – have joined with right-wing religious Zionists to become a powerful political force. They now are equipped to redefine the country's politics and to set a new agenda. » Read more

U.N. Investigator Presents Report on Gaza War ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Nick Cumming-Bruce - September 29, 2009 - 12:00am The lead investigator in a recent United Nations inquiry into the Gaza conflict warned on Tuesday that the lack of accountability for war crimes in he Middle East has “reached a crisis point” and is undermining any hope of peace. The investigator, Richard Goldstone, made his comments here as he presented the Human Rights Council with his final report on violations of human rights and international law in the three-week war in Gaza last winter, which accuses both Israel and Palestinian groups of committing atrocities. » Read more

Goldstone defends UN Gaza report ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News September 30, 2009 - 12:00am As the UN human rights watchdog debated the report, which accused Israel and Hamas of war crimes, he rejected what he called a "barrage of criticism". A US official dubbed the report "deeply flawed". Israel dismissed it as biased. Separately, a UK court has rejected an attempt by a Palestinian group to have Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak arrested for alleged war crimes. Under the principle of universal jurisdiction, war crimes suspects can be tried in British courts. But the British court ruled that Mr Barak had diplomatic immunity. » Read more

Do J'lem clashes, Gaza rockets portend worse violence? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from by Yaakov Katz, Abe Selig - September 30, 2009 - 12:00am The Muslim Quarter was quiet on Tuesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after clashes between Jerusalem Arabs and border policemen - which began on the Temple Mount Sunday and spread to the surrounding neighborhoods, continuing through Monday night. The recent renewed rocket fire from the Gaza Strip has been rattling nerves in the South as well. But defense officials said that they did not fear a new wave of Palestinian violence on the level of the second intifada. The clashes in Jerusalem and the rocket attacks from Gaza were not connected, they said. » Read more